Satellite Image of Osama bin Laden’s Compound

This satellite image of Abbottabad, Pakistan shows the compound where Osama Bin Laden was shot and killed by US special forces and CIA centered in the image. The house is on a upside down triangular shaped lot.

Abbottabad is essentially a military-cantonment city in Pakistan, in the hills to the north of the capital of Islamabad. Osama Bin Laden’s Pakistani protectors would have to be blind not to have known of his whereabouts, argues The New Yorker’s Steve Coll, saying evidence suggests he was being kept under state control. Abbottabad houses the Pakistan Military Academy—their equivalent to Sandhurst or West Point.

It is hard to believe that bin Laden’s palatial hideout could have been built and occupied by the al Qaeda leader for six years without army men noticing. Coll argues that Pakistan will deny this, and that there is not enough conclusive evidence to prove the case.

But obvious questions beg to be answered: Who owned the land on which bin Laden’s compound was built? Who installed its incredibly sophisticated security systems? Who else lived there and are there witnesses who could testify about possible visitors plotting other terrorist attacks that have taken place since 9/11? But given that the U.S. needs to cooperate with Pakistan and its neighbors on matters such as nuclear warfare and withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, it’s not likely that the Justice Department will push for an investigation.